Independents

Sunset Speedway Mini Stock Month of July Review

(C)Ashley McCubbin

A new face in victory lane followed by a new face for Sunset Speedway fans in victory lane followed by a familiar face. Mix that in with traffic and three-wide racing and you have the mini stock division for the month of July.

A new face in victory lane followed by a new face for Sunset Speedway fans in victory lane followed by a familiar face. Mix that in with traffic and three-wide racing and you have the mini stock division for the month of July.

After taking the lead on lap six of the feature, Ken Townsend would never look back as he led the rest of the way to score his first Mini Stock career feature victory to start off the month of July. Townsend has shown big improvement from last year as he is a front runner this year, contending for wins on any given night. Ben Melenhorst finished second, followed by Warren Paxton, Billy Melenhorst and Lance Foster.

In the middle feature of the night that featured the Sauble Speedway Mini Stocks coming for a visit, it’d be Sauble regular Kevin Bridge picking up his first Sunset Speedway victory. Bridge is one of the quickest Mini Stocks in Ontario having won multiple times at Sauble. Paxton finished second, followed by Billy Swartzenburg, Brandon McFerran and Ben Melenhorst.

In the final feature of the night, Brandon McFerran worked his way to the front after starting 18th to take the lead on lap 12 from Swartzenburg and grab his second Sunset Speedway victory. Swartzenburg finished second, followed by Eric Yorke, Paxton and Ben Melenhorst.

Best Heat Average Finish – Billy Swartzenburg – 1

Please note, the night that Sauble came to visit does not count as part of this.

With that said, Billy Swatzenburg didn’t run the July 6th event, however ran the second event and won both of his heats to have a perfect average.

McFerran also didn’t run the July 6th event and in the second event counted, he finished first and second in his heats for an average of 1.5. McFerran was leading his second heat when contact with four laps to go with Paxton sent McFerran around.

Ben Melenhorst had the best average of the drivers that ran all four heats counted as he had an average finish of 2.25. Melenhorst had a win, a pair of seconds and a fourth.

Yorke had the second best average of those drivers at a 3.25 after finishing second, a pair of thirds and a fifth.

Gehrig Halliday had the third best average at 4.25 after a third, a pair of fourths and a sixth. Halliday had a solid month in the features also, finishing 10th and seventh.

Brian Love and Shawn Gerrior tied for the fourth best average at 4.5. Love had a third and three fifths while Gerrior had a pair of fourths and a pair of fifths. Both drivers have found themselves consistently finishing around the 10th position each week in the features.

Best Feature Average Finish – Paxton and Melenhorst – 3.5

So here’s the deal….technically Brandon McFerran has the best average feature finish for the month of July as he won the only feature he started. Billy Swartzenburg follows suit with the second best average with a second in his only night run.

Now out of the drivers who ran both features that are being counted, Warren Paxton and Ben Melenhorst get this award as they both had a 3.5. Paxton finished third and fourth while Melenhorst had a second and a fifth.

Third best average goes to last year’s champion Eric Yorke at a 4.5 after a sixth and a third.

Fourth best average was a tie between Brian Love and Gehrig Halliday as they both had an average finish of 8.5. Love finished ninth and eighth while Halliday finished 10th and seventh.

With the top drivers in the province battling weekly – Swartzenburg, McFerran, Paxton, Melenhorst, Yorke – it’s always a thriller to watch the action that unfolds. These quick five usually start near the back and have to work their way through three, four-wide traffic to snatch wins. However, as proven by Ken Townsend, they can be beat. So will the famous fivesome be beat in August? Or will those five be repeating their victory performances?

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